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July 5, 2012, 9:02 am UTC

Bharti Softbank (BSB), a 50:50 JV between Bharti Enterprises and Softbank Corp, has ventured into its third initiative – a mobile messaging app calledHike.

The app will let people send free SMS to friends who are present on Hike and those who are not on Hike. This means a user does not need to download the app in order to receive the message from Hike user.

BSB’s (Bharti SoftBank) product development and strategy is led by Kavin Bharti Mittal, who previously founded Appspark and very strongly believes in the power of mobile. A lot of capabilities including SMS blocking, crowdsourcing elements and other fun features are a part of Hike.Spam blocking is another feature of the app with smart filters built in that block the spam seen on SMS.

With the launch on the cards, the app will first be released on Android, followed by iPhone, Windows and then all the other stacks.

At a very early stage, Hike is generating traction via the rewards mechanism. A person gets ‘Hike Merchandise’ upon inviting friends.

The app has recently an approval from TRAI for 100 free messages per day. It is offering 100 free SMS every month; plus, you get 10 SMS free for every user you bring in.

BSB joined hands with Y2CF Digital Media to launch a location based check-in service Hoppr.

Instant Messaging services like WhatsApp Messenger, BBM and Nimbuzz are becoming extremely popular these days. According to data of the Telecommunications Market Commission, sending SMS has been reduced by 33.5% in four years.